Valve's onboard 360. Customized Source Engine and 360 Games!

[ThaMaskedGamer]

This is pretty big, especially since it is likely to be a new IP, I think we'd know if they were bringing Counter-Strike or HL3, besides they wouldn't do another HL3 this soon that game takes decades too make.

Well here is the article. <a href="http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/703/703357p1.html">Valve and 360 </a>

Well no mention of the PS3, in fact since it was stated they are making a customized Source engine specifically for the 360 I would guess that precludes the PS3 for the moment.

They also say they have a game "coming soon" hmm I wonder if we will see something at E-3.

Well I just do not know, I think 360 will still be the home of the FPS this generation. There are just too many heavies on board. And I'll tell u what, with LucasArts making their Animation Based physics for 360 and now Valve doing a custom Source for the 360 once these engines are licensed out there could be a stream of incredible projects. I think this is how gaming progresses, not from a top-down do it my way philosophy, but from a bottom-up philosophy where the console allows developers to do what they want. I wonder how the PC crowd will take this, will they rebel like they did against Bungie or just get on the bus?

[Jupiter_x]

This is good news for 360 owners. While we might not see an HL3 until 360's midlife, Halo 3 will simply ease that pain with nary a complaint! Being a PC and Console gamer, I don't find this hinders my enjoyment I might have for upcoming Valve offerings, No worries there! In terms of 360 being home for the majority of FPS titles, I have to agree with you here. While PS3 will have some fantasic ones, 360 will be the system to own in this regard!

[Mochan]

This is pretty big, especially since it is likely to be a new IP, I think we'd know if they were bringing Counter-Strike or HL3, besides they wouldn't do another HL3 this soon that game takes decades too make.

The words "Valve" and "New IP" cannot exist in the same sentence, LOL.

Although.... they just did.


Anyway, maybe I should ditch my PC and get a 360, seeing as most PC games are starting to be 360 first. Then I remember the 360 has no mouse, and I stroke my 7800GT lovingly.

If only MS would provide mouse support on the 360, things would be sooo much easier.


Well I just do not know, I think 360 will still be the home of the FPS this generation.

Not while they're on dual analogues, they won't be in my house! To answer your question, yes I will rebel against them (then again, I rebelled against Valve even while they were on the PC), though it has nothing to do with the 360 per se, but more with how the 360 doesn't have any kind of decent input device for FPS games.

[Tappy_Tibbons]

Valve ARE the best, you see.

[Mochan]

Valve? The best? PFFFTTT.

[Cuddly Knife]

Pffft is right. Half Life 2 on the XBOX was trash. One of the most boring FPS I've played, I think. I'm no FPS fan, though, so don't take my word for it. Stranger's Wrath is tops for me.

What other games has this company done?

[mandark]

Pffft is right. Half Life 2 on the XBOX was trash. One of the most boring FPS I've played, I think. I'm no FPS fan, though, so don't take my word for it. Stranger's Wrath is tops for me.

What other games has this company done?
Actually, Half Life 2 for the PC was sort of trash too. The engine has major promise but HL2 was one of the most linear, uninteresting games I have played. Doom 3 was very linear too but it was able to suck me into the game to make me want to finish it. HL2 did not have this kind of draw on me. I did finish the game but mainly because I did not want to waste the $40 I paid for it. CounterStrike on the other hand is the BEST multiplayer EVAR!

[Mochan]

What other games has this company done?

None.

Like I said, the words "Valve" and "New IP" don't go together.

And as Mandark has said (and as I have said over and over), their games were trash on the PC, as well. Counterstrike though is one of the best multiplayer games ever! Too bad Valve didn't actually make Counterstrike.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

While HL2 was a major disappointment, I would never write off Valve. They are still one the major teams out there with a lot of technical expertise and ability. Halflife1 was a great game, but 2 I think they tried too hard and waited too long, it was unfocused.

I am interested to see what kind of new game they have for 360, technically I am sure it will rival anything out there let's just hope they can recapture their fun and creativity.

[moya]

HL2 was a "major disappointment" and "sort of trash"?!? In what universe was this again?

[Mochan]

It's my universe moya. :D

[Cuddly Knife]

And mine.

And I didn't say "sort of" I said straight out trash. Booooring. Crappy handling(double for the vehicles). I thought this game was supposed to be tops in everything, but yet I still saw bodies halfway through walls, 5-hit headshot kills, not-so-fantastic graphics, that stupid beep that goes off when enemies die(?), the most overrated weapon ever(grav gun), and physics that are too floppy-ish.

Console version, of course. I can't vouch for the pc, but Mochan can!

[ThaMaskedGamer]

HL2 wasn't trash, not in the least. It was just very boring. The enemies were dull and easy to defeat. The combat was just lame. The story was unfocused and not interesting in the least.
They were all over the place in terms of trying to copy or answer every major FPS since the original Half-life, but they did a bad job. Vehicle integration was not done well, squad AI and command was very pathetic for this day and age of gaming. Enemy AI, animation and scripts were average. Maps and environments were stale and contrived, its like they formulated these maps just to show how great their physics were, you had to do all these stupid little puzzles constructing things and it wasn't very much fun, moving boxes around and the like. The suspension bridge, technically was amazing, but it wasn't any fun fighting gunships whilst balancing on tight ropes. The whole bug(forgot their proper names) segue was just stupid, they could have left that out completely. The last part of the game, before the very last levels, when you were in the streets fighting the giant walkers and going from building to building was SUPREME, it was intense, tactical, and pretty fun, even if the walker's themselves were kinda lame and easy to take down. But they mixed the walkers with the combine and it was fast pace yet tactical, going from room to room then building to building.

I just hope Valve recognized the short comings of the game. To me the PC crowd had hyped the game and anticipated it so much they just ignored the faults of the game and it was rated very highly, so that could be a problem if it signals to Valve that they did a good job. They might not change much. Personally, I'd probably skip HL3 unless its very very good(how can I confirm that?, I have no idea, since it was said HL2 was very very good). I would rather see what new games and new ideas Valve can bring to the table. Also I was very suprised to see a major PC fps revert to box puzzles and platforming, that was a very bad idea, we don't need to go there Valve. That will be one sign, if I read their future games have platforming and idiotic puzzles, i'll skip it.

[moya]

It's probably just me then.

You have to understand that I'm a sucker for well-realized post-apocalyptic storylines, so Half-Life 2 is a veritable feast of post-apoc porn for me. The way everything is gradually revealed as you go along, but not spoon-fed; lots of stuff is merely hinted at. I loved that stuff.

I also thought that, as usual, Valve showed themselves to be masters of level design and pacing. With possibly the only exception of Ravenholm (yeah it was hot zombie secks, but it did go on a bit), every level in the game is a finely honed masterclass in how to provide variety and keep the player interested.

So, yeah, that's what I've got. What do you have? Oh yeah, graphics crap, physics problems and clipping complaints... Well, I think you see where I'm going.

Sure, it was still linear, so it was disappointing in the sense of not being "the next great step forward for shooters" (TM), but let's not kid ourselves that it was "total trash": it was nothing of the sort!

*edit* This was a reply to Cuddly Knife, damn you TMG and your ninja posts!

[Cuddly Knife]

So, yeah, that's what I've got. What do you have? Oh yeah, graphics crap, physics problems and clipping complaints... Well, I think you see where I'm going.
You forgot boring, over-hyped weapon, ass-like contol, and here, I'll repost what TMG said in case you missed it.
The story was unfocused and not interesting in the least.
They were all over the place in terms of trying to copy or answer every major FPS since the original Half-life, but they did a bad job. Vehicle integration was not done well, squad AI and command was very pathetic for this day and age of gaming. Enemy AI, animation and scripts were average. Maps and environments were stale and contrived, its like they formulated these maps just to show how great their physics were, you had to do all these stupid little puzzles constructing things and it wasn't very much fun, moving boxes around and the like. The suspension bridge, technically was amazing, but it wasn't any fun fighting gunships whilst balancing on tight ropes. The whole bug(forgot their proper names) segue was just stupid, they could have left that out completely
That pretty much qualifies a game as crap, doesn't it? I mean, if it was some unknown game that came out and it got this type of review, people would avoid it like the plague, but come the name of Gordon Freeman and Half-Life, and people start creaming their shorts, no matter the quality of the game will be compared to others.

Like Mandark said, even Doom 3 was able to keep my interest more than HL2.

[moya]

Well, gosh, I disagree with pretty much everything ThaMaskedGamer said. How about that? It's kind of amazing actually, since I think almost exactly the opposite. Almost like I'm the anti-TMG, at least as far as HL2 is concerned. Apart from his comments on squad AI; that was pretty poor, granted.

As for "ass-like control"... Well, you shouldn't be playing first-person shooters on consoles now, should you? ;)

[VGV]

*MY OPINION*

Half Life 2 ... the thinking man's FPS and before I forget ... one of
the best FPS evar !!!

Yeah, you could "probably" run through this game like a friggin'
maniac and shoot and kill everything in sight like a mindless fool
(like 99% of other FPS), but ... let me illustrate with just one example,
why I LOVE this game :

There's a part in the game where you're in an old run down jail. There's
a few wooden boxes, barrels, empty jail cells to the left and right, 2
corridors, storage areas in between the 2 corridors with entry/exit areas to
the left and right. In one of these "storage" areas, to your inconvenience,
there are only 3 motion detecting mounted automatic weapons, yeah the fourth
one's missing.

I looked around and thunk to myself, OK I'm about to be ambushed by tons of
guards (what's her name again *the good girl* warns you about this) ... went
into the area where the mounted guns were and built myself a barricade with
the wooden boxes and barrels that were lying around. Placed 2 mounted weapons
at the right entrance behind my barricade and placed 1 at the left entrance,
yes you guessed it behind the other barricade. As I nervously stood in my
"safety" zone, waiting for the oncoming onslaught ... rattattatattatatattatat
BOOM BOOM CRASH BOOM @#&&#$#$ !!!!!!

First wave of guards ran right into my trap, but the next ones quickly adjusted
and started throwing grenades. Thankfully I placed the guns at such an angle that
it was nearly impossible for them to lob the grenades into my safety zone. Man ...
at the end only my left barricade collapsed ... but the massacre and havoc my
little death trap had caused, allowed me to quickly and safely obliterate the 2
lone guards left standing.

My point : there's a ton of situations in this game when *IF* you use your friggin'
brains, you can create some of the coolest traps evar conceived by mankind http://forums.videogamereview.com/images/smilies/lol.gif

P.S. Oh yes, I loved the atmosphere ... and the character acting ... best I witnessed
in any game PERIOD !!! <a href="http://www.heavy.com/index.php?videoPath=/content/Sprite/flash_video/machinimafewgoodm" target=_blank>Click here</a> for some HL2 oscar nomination level acting http://forums.videogamereview.com/images/smilies/yesnod.gif

[ThaMaskedGamer]

I am not in agreement with Cuddly. I think HL2 was a letdown but not a bad game. I was expecting a game that changed everything, like the original HL did, but for me HL2 failed to do that. I think HL2 was way better than Doom3 for instance. When I finished HL2 i think I rated it around an 87%, which is still saying its a good game. But I expected more from the game or that basically changed FPS and brought great storytelling atmosphere and A.I. to gaming, maybe my expectations were too high. But in no way do I think it is a bad game.

There were some great moments in the game, but for every great moment like the jail scene, like the Giant Walkers, there were also scenes that were hard to sit through like the damn bug levels. There was scenes that were largely boring like when you had to drive the dune buggy and stop every so often to open a gate or solve a puzzle. To me if the game would have been better if they chopped out 1/3 of the totally moronic missions.

And again i'm sorry the platforming was just a new thing for HL and a new thing for these types of FPS and I didn't agree with it. Especially near the end. I just think they tried to do too much. It was too many games wrapped in one, the story was all over the place.

But I respect your opinion, i'm not trying to sway you. I guess you think the game was perfect. I guess u liked the whole bug segue, I guess you liked the platforming, I guess u thought the squad interaction and AI was good, I guess u thought the vehicles integration was well done. To me they just did a lot of that stuff average to well, there have been a lot of other shooters to excel in those areas and Valve coming back with HL2 in my opinion should have stomped them all. In terms of enormity of levels and physics they did excel in those areas, but just about everywhere else, including pacing and storytelling HL2 was average to good, but not great. Was it an "ass" game, hell no, it was good, but Half-life should be great.

EDIT: You have to understand how high I rate the original game also. When I played Half-life, the very first day it was released in N.A., it was the best game I had played ever. And subsequently, only Halo has had a bigger impact(as i'm playing the game) than HL did. HL was mind blowing, as was Halo. I never got that feeling in HL2.

[Cuddly Knife]

As for "ass-like control"... Well, you shouldn't be playing first-person shooters on consoles now, should you? ;)
Console version, of course. I can't vouch for the pc
Told you, consoles are all I play, so I judge games based on the console version. Maybe HL2 would've been better if there wasn't loading every five minutes. Maybe if I played it with a mouse it would've been better. I don't know. What I do know is that it doesn't hold it's own against other console FPS.

Fuggit though.

Ninja Gaiden rules ALL!!!!!!!!!!

[Mochan]

Even the PC version has loading every five minutes. It was ridiculous. A game in this day and age (well, a year ago actually, almost 2 years) having so many intermittent load times? Pathetic.

It's not a bad game, but there's a lot that's NOT good with it, although at the very least the PC version had very tight controls. Anyway I've made the point over and over that I dislike both Halo and Half Life, and find both series to be massively overrated.

[mandark]

Even the PC version has loading every five minutes. It was ridiculous. A game in this day and age (well, a year ago actually, almost 2 years) having so many intermittent load times? Pathetic.

It's not a bad game, but there's a lot that's NOT good with it, although at the very least the PC version had very tight controls. Anyway I've made the point over and over that I dislike both Halo and Half Life, and find both series to be massively overrated.
Yeah, those loading times are ridiculous to the very end of the game. I love it how reviewers were saying that the game had a seamless way of taking the gamer from one place to another. That is, if you don't consider the 1 to 2 minute freeze and the word "loading" on the screen while the new map is loading "seamless".

Now, VGV is right that there were moments where you can be creative with the traps. But those are very few and very far in between. Most of the time you are just following a very linear, very narrow path. This is most disappointing because at the part of the game where you are given the crowbar, Valve presents shows you a view of the city that stretches for miles. My first thought was, "Wow, I can't wait to explore that!" ala FarCry. How disappointing that we are not even given a chance to explore this city.

[Superjoint Ritual]

Laser guiding a missle into a helicopter is boring? Throwing an egg-thing into a room and watch bugs come up out of the ground and rip your enimies apart isn't fun? Swinging a crate that ways a ton into a group of guys, then droping it on the survivers isn't fun?

The gravity gun may be the best gun ever put into a game. Use a table as a shield, or launch into someone isn't fun to you people? Stacking crates to get to places that offer excellent sniper opportunities isn't inventive enough? Using the gravity gun to pick up grenades people have thrown at you so can launch them back isn't awesome?

Half-Life 2 is an amazing game. I guess we'll agree to disagree. I think it's one of the best fps's I've ever played.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

Laser guiding a missle into a helicopter is boring? Throwing an egg-thing into a room and watch bugs come up out of the ground and rip your enimies apart isn't fun? Swinging a crate that ways a ton into a group of guys, then droping it on the survivers isn't fun?

The gravity gun may be the best gun ever put into a game. Use a table as a shield, or launch into someone isn't fun to you people? Stacking crates to get to places that offer excellent sniper opportunities isn't inventive enough? Using the gravity gun to pick up grenades people have thrown at you so can launch them back isn't awesome?

Half-Life 2 is an amazing game. I guess we'll agree to disagree. I think it's one of the best fps's I've ever played.


The gravity gun in HL2 was cool but the TK in PSI ops was better. In that game you could stand on a crate then lift it with you TK and fly. If you could do that in Half life that would have alleviated all of those stupid platform puzzles. Plus once you killed people in PSI ops the bodies stayed there and you could throw them at enemies I think you could only do this at the end of Half life 2.

[Tappy_Tibbons]

I don't understand. According to gamerankings, HL2 is the best PC game of all time.

I fully agree, HL2 is EASILY the best single player FPS ever. It was the AI, the atmosphere, the physics, the story, and the fact that I've played through it 5 times and still fiend for more.

Also, I plan on buying a new PC just to play Ep 1.